Monday, 21 September 2015

Greenwich industrial history news items

SIEMENS BROTHERS ENGINEERING SOCIETY The History of the Siemens Brothers Engineering Society,
Supplement

We have been kindly sent a copy of Brian Middlemiss's continuing history of the Society 2009-2013. This continues on a previous work and a bibliography of items collected by the Society and deposited in Greenwich Heritage Centre. Thanks to Brian for this and we hope to publish some extracts in due course.

MERRYWEATHER FIRE ENGINES
Last Tuesday Neil Bennett came to talk to the Society about the famous fire engine factory in Greenwich High Road. Neil has now sent us a time line of Merryweather History - and again we hope to publish some extracts of this in the next few weeks
Neil has also sent us news of his book on Merryweathers 'Sustained by Extinction'. He says it is far from finished but that he is prepared to let people see what he has done so far. Please contact GIHS for his email.
He has also forwarded a link from Ron Henderson to a film featuring Merryweathers mr_0010395_pl.mp4

Prefab museum - we had a speaker, Elizabeth Blanchet, on this Lewisham based project last year. The museum itself was in a Lewisham prefab on the Excalibar Estate but a fire ended that. Elizabeth writes to say that they are still hoping to find somewhere to erect an old prefab from Brittany. Please see http:// www.prefabmuseum.uk.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW SCULPTURE ON THE PENINSULA - This is the 'pylon spectacle' - 'A bullet jumps from a shooting star' by Alex Chinnock."Referencing the history and heritage of a site that once housed the
largest oil and gasworks in Europe. Chinneck effortlessly creates a
sense of awe by literally flipping audiences expectations on their head.
Inverting a electricity Pylon made from a combined length of 1186m of
steel and weighing 15 tons, there will be over 400 pieces of steel with
900 engineered connection points".
Go and see it - and be grateful someone on the Peninsula is taking a bit of notice of the industrial history of the site - or at least the adjacent site - it is on Point Wharf next to Ordnance Wharf and the gas works.